Empowerment for Girls: How Parents Can Combat Gender Stereotypes
Research, in addition to personal
experiences of girls and boys, and men and women (especially the experiences of
girls and women), show that gender stereotypes have been in the past and,
unfortunately, even in 2017, are alive and flourishing.
Therefore, it is the responsibility
of parents to attempt to raise strong girls who feel empowered to follow their
dreams, despite any obstacles that society might impose. Below are six
important things that parents must try to do empower girls and to stave off the
gender stereotypes.
● Know that, as parents, you are
your child’s first teacher.
Parents
are role models. Your daughters and sons are watching and
learning from everything you do and say. If you say one thing (boys and girls are
equal) but do another (treat them differently, or act in a gender-stereotypical
way yourself), they will definitely notice the actions over any empty words.
● Introduce diversity in toys,
play and sports activites , and in toys.
Expose your sons and daughters to a
variety of toys. Avoid choosing only those that are gender-typed or gender
specific. Encourage your children to
engage with different kinds of toys, playmates and activities. Be creative and
branch out beyond gender-themed activities that don't need to be gender
specific. Children pick up on such activities and learn stereotypes very quickly
when that's the mainstay of what they experience.
● Address stereotypes straight
forward and head on.
Avoid broad generalizations ( such
as "all girls …" or "that's a boy thing"). Address such
generalization by asking your sons and daughter questions about kids'
assumptions and gently showing them why they're not accurate and not fair. Encourage
and help children to see beyond a one’s gender or how that gender is presented
by highlighting other qualities, skills and actions. Getting kids to value
diversity is paramount to overcoming gender stereotypes.
● Teach your children to be media-savvy.
Even kids as young as three years of
age can understand that advertisements they see on television, online, and in
magazines are trying to persuade you, as a parent to do something that is
gender specific. Ads want you to divide the world into pink and blue. Most media (from
books to TV to video games) present a very skewed picture of gender (and other
social categories like race, religion, etc.). Teaching kids to be media-savvy
will help safeguard them against the constant, stereotypical social messages
they will encounter on a daily basis.
● Provide positive examples or
alternatives of role models who challenge gender stereotypes and unjust
practices.
Expose them to the many books and
stories about some remarkable nonconformists who changed the world. Many of
them are women, such as Rosa Parks, Amelia Earhart, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Malala, Marie Curie and many more “sheroes”.
There are excellen books, even for really young children, on such heroines. There
is a growing list of fiction that presents ordinary girls as strong, capable
characters. ( Such as Shelby, the little girl in my book, Amazing Adventures in Shelby’s Shoes. There are television shows, especially ones
such as SciGirls on PBS, that buck stereotypes.
● Don’t forget that boys and men
are a crucial part of the story.
It is a given that mothers are
primary role models for their daughters. However, fathers, brothers and other
male role models are greatly influential and form early blueprints for girls'
future relationships.
Also, boys can be held back by
stereotypes, as well. Feminist, Gloria Steinem, famously said, "We've
begun to raise daughters more like sons ... but few have the courage to raise
our sons more like our daughters." So, every one of these strategies is
applicable to sons, as well as daughters..
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